1997 K1500 z71 suspension help

[Threeofnine]

Greetings all. I’ve been restoring a 1997 K1500 extended cab z71 pickup that my dad bought new. I mostly use the truck on off road trails on some former strip mining land I own.

I do not want to lift the truck as the stock ground clearance meets my needs. However, I would like to modify the suspension for a smoother ride over rough trails. Currently if I drive over 10mph on the trails it rattles the truck and jars me like crazy. Other trucks I’ve ridden in seem to be able to go 30-40mph over the same terrain with minimal discomfort. Could anyone maybe give me some suggestions?

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[JOHNGAAA1]

How old are the shocks. Z71s came with bilsteins.

 

[firestoness]

Seems to me you have a lot of clearance between the fender and top of tire. I suspect someone cranked the T bars up. Look at how far you are from the stops at the upper control arms. May be hitting the stops.

 

[GoToGuy]

It's not an even comparison. Different manufacturers specify all different spring rates, shock damping rates 50/50, 60/40, and so fourth. You could try a high end high quality shock absorber, Bilstein, Ranch etc.
As mentioned above the service manual has dementions for body height points to tell if some has cranked torsion bars.
What tire pressure are running. Unless your always carrying a heavy load or a service body , 33, 35 psi is good.

 

[kylenautique]

Shocks could be shot. If the front end has been lifted by cranking the torsion bars, that's going ruin your ride quality. Check the tire PSI. My 98 was bone stock when I bought it, and it had probably the original shocks on it. I installed a 6" rough country lift kit on it, and wow what a difference! It rides very nice and smooth. If you plan on wanting more ground clearance, you really need to properly lift it.

 

[Threeofnine]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I know the rear shocks are fairly new. I am not sure the brand but they were installed to support towing/carrying a heavy load as the truck was owned by a trailer park and being used to haul off junk when I rescued it. I would bet the front shocks are stock and the truck has 370k miles on it. The truck was in pretty rough shape. The following photo is how it looked after I tracked it down. I will look at upgrading the shocks, I seriously doubt anyone messed with the T bars but I will investigate that too.

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[Wilecoyote]

I bought a 99 K1500 4x4 w 113k 4 yrs ago. Now 3 years later and the front suspension was about shot. I bought loaded upper A arms, unit bearings, ball joints, tie rods etc. It was a pain to tear it down and put new parts back and w a alignment it drives better. I have more work to do, but it's driving and steering great.

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[Caman96]

It doesn’t look to me like the torsion bars are cranked.

 

[Hipster]

In stock form, most k1500 have a bit of rake to them. This one looks cranked/leveled to me, and it's no secret cranking one can make it ride like an unsprung wagon that no off the shelf shock on the market will fix. Bad shocks would be un-tamed compression and rebound, but it doesn't appear to me that's what's being described. First check would be ride height against oem specs.

 

[Caman96]

In stock form, most k1500 have a bit of rake to them. This one looks cranked/leveled to me, and it's no secret cranking one can make it ride like an unsprung wagon that no off the shelf shock on the maket will fix. Bad shocks would be un-tamed compression and rebound, but it doesn't appear to me that's what's being described. First check would be ride height against oem specs.

Photos can be deceiving though.
How does this look?

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